Canyon and Fortress
by Knight on Bald Mountain
Summary: My second oneshot adventure of Link. Expect more of the same as of my first one. I may or may not post more of these, but if you want a full length, check out "Sorrows of Silidan," my work-in-progress.


Canyon and Fortress

Time flows like water along a river. It bends, and twists and turns as the earth around it takes shape. Sometimes, time has to do the same. At such times, time may feel longer or shorter depending on where one is at. Some people attempt to regain what they have lost in their early timeline, but it is as futile as a salmon trying to go up a waterfall. Needless to say, time was something that toyed with people, knowing people cannot toy with it.

For Link, time was definitely against him. For the last hour, he has been trekking on his valiant horse, Epona, in search of the great Ikana Fortress. He knew it was off in the distance, but this was ridiculous. Perhaps if Hyrule was not in such grave times, he would not need to travel to distant lands and collect all these obscure weapons. He wondered if this one would be any different and be of actual worth.

Despite Link's displeasure to the long days, he knew he couldn't stop. They needed a hero. What they got was a squire; but a determined squire. He knew the lives of many rested on his hands. If he was to be the hero they wanted, he needed to acquire the forgotten artifacts of the heroes past.

A wolf howled in the distance as the moon rose to a new high. That was a sure sign of trouble ahead. Link sighed as he drew his sword and kicked up Epona's speed. He knew what would happen next. In just a few minutes, skeletal creature began to rise from the ground. Link bent over and sliced at them as they tried to reach for him. There were simply too many of them, despite outrunning the majority. He realized that he would not achieve victory while staying mounted.

He hopped off Epona, allowing her to keep riding. Turning to face the skeletons, Link drew out his new weapon, a wand of ice. He sprayed his foes with the freezing magic, stopping them all in place. He didn't bother to cut them up. He simply kicked their spines from between them, and began to find Epona.

What felt like an earthquake forced Link to turn back around. Now before him, was a large dodongo made of bones. It roared for a good ten seconds before it tried to claw Link. Link, still recovering from the ear-shattering cry, leapt aside dodging the creature's claws.

Or so he had hoped.

He felt a searing pain in his left leg as he felt himself getting pinned to the ground. He cried out, but it did nothing to alleviate the pain. He drew his sword and hacked off the claw that was holding him. The monster cried out again, but Link was ready, as he pried the bony claw off his leg. The leg was beginning to go numb as the blood began to flow. This was not good.

Just as Link would have fainted and died, he pulled out a bottle from his pouch and released a fairy. The fairy, seeing his wound, quickly circled Link and mended him just before flying off. With his strength renewed, Link was ready to stand again. Drawing his ice rod, he began to freeze the dragon's limbs. The behemoth was not so willing to let the puny hylian stop it, but Link used his puniness to his advantage and dodged all of its attacks.

It was only a matter of time before Link had successfully frozen the monster's limbs and was ready to finish it. With a high jump, Link thrust his sword squarely into the forehead of the beast. The creature wailed, trying to shake him off, but it as to no avail. Within a minute, the lashing was over and the creature laid dead. Link dusted himself off, grabbed his ocarina and called Epona back to him.

The skeletons were gone, making the trek through the canyon far smoother. It was all starting to get better, for up ahead was the fortress. Link dismounted and approached. Its dark demeanor could chill the bone of any other warrior, but Link cared not. He had trudged all the way through this godforsaken trench to find this place and he wasn t going to let something scare him away. Ironically, something nudge his shoulder, causing him to jump slightly, until he realized it was his horse. Link shook his head in disapproval before whispering to her to keep away.

Link ran for the front gate, hoping to just walk right in, but whatever ancient power was controlling the keep refused to permit entrance. It didn't deter him. He pulled out his grappling hook and prepped it for launch. Link tossed it, missing at first. He pulled it back and tried again. Aiming higher, he tossed it again. This time, the hook clung hard to the top of the turret. With speed, Link climbed up the side and over the edge.

The fort looked completely deserted. Perhaps the fabled Mirror Shield had already been looted. It may have all been for naught. Still, he wasn't going to go back empty handed. He'll find something worth obtaining.

Link made his way down the castle wall and towards the inner sanctum. He should have watched his step. As he closed the distance between himself and the door, he stepped on a hidden trigger, causing the gate to slam shut. From behind him, he heard monstrous cackling. As he spun around and drew his sword, he saw three lizalfos standing there, with short swords drawn.

Link charged the closest one, hoping to get an easy kill while they were still laughing. He failed, but not before leaving a large gash in the creatures left-standing limb. It was enough to force it out of the battle for now, as Link turned his attention to the other two. They had circled him, ready to strike from both sides. Link was not going to fall for their simple ploy, as he concentrated fighting the one in front of him.

The lizalfos behind him struck Link's back, only to find his weapon hit a clang. The beast was puzzled, simply because it could not understand he had hit Link's shield (which he had never pulled out). It struck again and heard another clang. It simply couldn t comprehend the fact that Link kept his shield on his back. By the time he was ready to strike again, Link had already run off to catch the lizalfos he was facing.

The creature clearly was more agile than Link, since he leapt a good three meters up onto the roof of a smaller structure. Link didn't bother chasing it. He was growing attached to his new ice rod, so he simply whipped it out and froze his foe. Then he shattered the ice by tossing his shield at him. He wouldn't need it anymore after he was finished here.

The second lizalfos had caught up to him, ready to attack Link from the front. Link was not in the mood to play any more games. He merely rolled around the beast and severed his upper body. A victory easily won.

Now where did that last one go? Oh, there it was. It was off in a corner attempting to treat its leg. Link wondered if he should let it go or to finish it off. He expected that it would try to attack him again if did nothing, so he quickly pulled out his bow and shot it down. With all three lizalfos dead, he could see that the inner sanctum gates were now opening. Hopefully, there would be no more encounters in store for him.

It all started off looking just fine. The building looked much like the inside of a citadel, with lots of lights and stained glass windows. It was empty, just like all the other rooms. No Mirror Shield was in sight or any obvious pedestal where it may have been on before, but there was a door behind what appeared to be a throne. If he was lucky, he could make it through without a surprise.

Of course, with luck like his, he never had enough surprises.

The moment he approached the throne, he noticed something awkward. The throne was empty, but he could have sworn he saw someone, or something, sitting on it for about a second before while he was approaching it. He traced back his steps for a moment, thinking he may have triggered another trap. He found himself stopping right where a beam of light shone near the center of the room. That was it. He saw another skeletal figure sitting on the throne. Unlike all the other ones he had seen before, this one was bigger and looked far more intimidating. However, it made no attempt to attack Link, nor did it even move in its seat.

Link wondered what this charade was all about, but since it did nothing, he thought it may be wise to leave it alone. He ran passed the throne to the door behind it. After opening it, he saw a large treasure room. Rupees were all around in gigantic piles. It was difficult to navigate through all the wealth, but Link knew the Mirror Shield was in here somewhere. It took a couple minutes, but then he found the chest. Link quickly opened it up, and grabbed the shield.

In his haste, he tripped over another trigger. Nothing seemed to happen, but he did hear a cackling back in the throne room. He expected it to be the same skeletal king on the throne, but it still made no move towards the back room. Regardless, Link opened up the chest and found the treasure he sought.

The Mirror Shield: a shield with a glass-like surface that repels all sorts of magical and non-magical energies. On its surface, which startled Link for a moment, was the face of a person. On the person's face was shear agony and pain. Whatever it was that created this shield, or the person on it, must have been in great sorrow.

In any case, Link needed to see what the commotion was outside. He headed back out to see nothing had changed. Or at least it appeared that way. He could hear the clattering of someone's footsteps, but he saw nobody. He looked for the light that was shining at the center of the room only to find it gone. The windows were now covered by shades.

A cacophonous cackle approached him from behind. Link turned around and saw nothing, but he sure felt the sudden bony leg swipe his feet from below him, causing him to trip to the ground. Link, not being able to see his enemy, began to swing wildly, hoping to at least stop the enemy from attacking again.

Realizing that he was vulnerable until he can get some light, he rolled away and pulled himself up. The monster continued to cackle, giving Link a general idea of how far it was. He needed to destroy the curtains, but he could not reach them. The only thing that would work would be to set them on fire. He had no fire of his own, but there were some torches. Link grabbed his bow and a single arrow. He dashed for the nearest torch and set his arrow on fire. Taking careful aim, he let the arrow give way.

The arrow went right through the window, shattering the glass, but not before setting the shade on fire and burning it up. But it won't completely burn off for another minute, so Link was forced to play hide n seek with his invisible opponent.

It cackled again. He was right behind Link. He spun around and sliced across the air behind him. He hit something, but he couldn't tell if it was sword, shield, or bone. He cut across again, hitting something else. It sounded like a clang, so he must have hit a sword. Still, he did not trust his instincts on this one, so he back-flipped away in hopes that the light was now shining.

To his surprise, the light was now shining like a beacon in the dark. He stood on the pedestal and turned to face his opponent. Now, more than ever, did this creature look like it was ready to kill him. Link was not going to back down. He now had the weapon he needed (how convenient). Without a second to lose, he whipped out his shield with the face towards the monster. The light reflected upon it and caused the creatures to become stunned.

Link made haste and finished the creature while it was stunned and visible. Link leapt over it and hacked its head off, killing it instantly. With the big brute gone, it seemed that it would all be over. But of course, Link s luck was against him. He first heard it as he left the inner sanctum. It was a clattering sound, like a bunch of tiny bugs.

The thing was that they weren't bugs.

Turning around, Link saw that it was a swarm of skeletons. They were everywhere. It seemed that there was no escape. If he was to get away, he d need to get on higher ground. All four sides were covered. Only way out was up. He quickly pulled out his grappling hook and tossed it up and onto a nearby ledge. He didn't even wait to see if it was secure and began to climb. This was perhaps the only lucky thing to happen to him today.

As he found himself on top of the inner sanctum, he looked to see how he could escape. The stalfos were already covering the entire ground, and they continued to come. He just needed to get over the wall and he d be fine, but how?

Then it donned on him. Link pulled out his ice rod. Using a different grip and setting, he froze the air along him creating an icy path. It was time to make an escape. Using his shield as a board, he rode along the icy path. He was almost free, until his magic ran dry. The rod stopped working and Link began to fall. He was still inside the fort, but he did land inside a tower. He could still hop over the front wall.

Link rushed out of the tower towards the wall. Blocking the entrance were a dozen stalfos, ready to cut him down. Link didn't have time for this. If he didn't kill them quickly enough, the other stalfos will catch him. There was no time to waste.

Link charged the monsters. He hacked down the first one. Then the second one fell. The third and fourth ones refused to go down so easily. Link had to bash them with his shield before cutting them up. The fifth one was taking a defensive position with his shield up. Link sliced off its feet before stabbing it in the skull. It looked like things were going to turn his way. The sixth stalfos jumped over him, ready to attack him from behind, but Link simply ignored it and ran on. The seventh and eighth were next, prepping themselves to charge at Link. As they did, Link jumped over them and hacked off their heads just as he did with their king. By now, the stalfos behind him had caught up. It raised its sword to strike, but Link stuck his sword under his shoulder and stabbed creature in the spine, severing it.

Link was almost home, but the last four were learning from their fallen comrades mistakes. They created a long line along the wall with their shields raised and their swords ready should Link jump over them. Link looked back real fast. The other stalfos were beginning to make their way through the tower and up the wall. If he didn t hurry, they will catch him. Then he noticed it: a small jar next to him. He picked it up and heaved it at the stalfos. It did nothing but reveal a small potion. He had come to accept such abnormalities in his times traveling. He quickly drank the potion, feeling the magical energies coursing through his veins. He was ready for them now.

As the stalfos approached him, he turned to them, with a somewhat wicked grin on his face. He made a few gestures with his hands before he pounded the ground with his hand. A small flame emitted from his hand. Then it grew. It grew out in all directions, burning all the stalfos to a neat crisp ash. Now he could make his escape.

Link called for Epona and it came within the minute. He jumped down and landed squarely on the saddle. After popping a few bones and stretching a few muscles, he rode back and out of the canyon. As he rode on, he examined his new shield more closely. It was a magnificent piece, shimmering in the moonlight. Yet, he couldn't help but wonder again why the face on it was so sorrowful. It has been said that it was created by creatures living deep in the earth where no light shined. Perhaps this creature saw his reflection in it and realized how hideous he and his people were. This may have caused the Mirror Shield to have taken up an image befitting of its creators.

In any case, it was now Link's, and he would put it to good use. Link stopped his horse briefly to observe the sky. Dawn was beginning to come, and Link still had another couple hours before he would get out of the canyon. He thought he might as well take his time and watch the sunrise.

After all, he had time on his side.


End file.
